Parental corporal punishment and children’s executive functions in Chinese migrant families: The mediating role of child anxiety

Although disadvantages of parental corporal punishment are well documented, little is known about the effects of parental corporal punishment on children’s cognitive development in Chinese migrant families and the potential emotional mechanisms. The present longitudinal study investigated the effects of both maternal and paternal corporal punishment on children’s executive functions and whether these effects would be mediated by child anxiety in Chinese migrant families. Three hundred and twenty-eight elementary school-aged children and both their mothers and fathers completed the measures at three time points, half a year apart. Parental corporal punishment and child anxiety were assessed by mother-, father-, and child-report. Children’s executive functions were assessed by mother- and father-report. Structural equation modeling revealed that neither maternal nor paternal corporal punishment significantly predicted migrant children’s executive functions one year later, after controlling for the stability of children’s executive functions. Moreover, child anxiety mediated the effect of maternal but not paternal corporal punishment on children’s executive functions. No significant children’s sibling status differences in the mediating model were found. The findings highlight the importance of considering the emotional mechanisms in cognitive outcomes of migrant children who experience parental corporal punishment, and provide intervention suggestions for parenting behaviors to improve children’s developmental outcomes.